Still don't own these characters, I also don't own the Marx Brothers or Charlie Chaplin and I don't have a rant to go along with this.
Chapter 9
"Did I wrong your mother in past life or something?" Sesshomaru wondered out loud as Kikyo hung up the phone with her mother. He could tell from just the one end of the conversation that he heard that it had not gone well.
Kikyo considered that telling her mother that she was moving in with Sesshomaru over the phone it would be easier and less painful. She had not found out if that was true or not because she could not get that far into a conversation with her mother about Sesshomaru because as soon as she brought him up, her mother started ranting about her "no good boyfriend." To say her mother that disliked him did not cover a fraction of the negative emotion the woman felt for him.
"As much as she detests you, it might have been this life," Kikyo replied with a sigh that almost sounded like she was admitting defeat. Her mother was the one person on the planet that could cause such a feeling in her, but she was not looking to give up just yet.
"I've never even met the woman. What has Kaede been telling her?" Sesshomaru inquired because he really wished to know why her mother detested him so much beyond the few things that Kikyo told him about. The little bit of things that he did know did not seem to add up to him as to why every time Kikyo tried to talk to her mother about their relationship, her mother had to bad mouth him like there was no tomorrow.
"Nothing to convert her to liking you, I can assure you that much," Kikyo remarked, sighing again. She wished that her mother would just accept Sesshomaru. He was the man that she loved, after all. "I'm not entirely sure where she got the notion from, but she is under the impression that you're taking advantage of me."
"First off, how does one take advantage of you of all people?" he asked quite seriously.
"I'm not sure. My mother has always been very overprotective, though. She has always monitored everything that comes into my life or my sister's life. It's just the way she is. I suppose you being an unknown element unnerves her."
He nodded. "Will she get over it once I become more known to her?"
"I have no idea. I have never been in such a situation to see how she would react. We will both be discovering how this turns out together," she commented with another sigh. "I think that she's heard rumors involving you and that's causing her major concern."
"But, they are just rumors."
"It is all she has to go by, except for Kaede's reports and I don't think she's holding stock in those. She probably thinks that you enchanted Kaede somehow," she explained.
"Are you going to tell her?" he asked since he noticed that once again, she had failed to mention that she was moving in with him.
"I will," she promised.
"When?"
"Soon."
Sesshomaru accepted that answer because he knew that Kikyo would get around to it; the moment that she could bring him up in a conversation without her mother swearing that he was the devil incarnate. They both would admit that he was not the most humane creature on the planet, but he was far from Satan. Sure, stories around town did not paint a very flattering picture of him, but those were rumors, not the total truth. He would like to think that his beloved's mother was wise enough to know that she should not believe everything that she heard.
"What if we all went out to dinner and you told her?" Sesshomaru suggested, hoping that her mother would be much too conservative to start a scene in public. After all, his beloved would never do such a thing, so maybe she got the trait from her mother.
"She would only think that you're flaunting your wealth," Kikyo answered, shooting down that idea in her usual tone of voice.
"And hate me all the more," he gathered with a deadpan expression. It seemed like there was no way for him to win with that woman.
"Of course."
"Dammit. What could I do to please this woman aside from dying a slow, painful, miserable death?" he inquired quite seriously. He wanted to get on her mother's good side because Kikyo was very close to her mother. He felt like her mother's opinion of him would matter to her, although her mother's low opinion of Sesshomaru did not seem to be affecting Kikyo at the moment.
Kikyo laughed a bit. "You could always stop seeing her daughter," she replied.
"I would rather the slow, painful, miserable death," he informed her, which earned him a loving kiss from her.
"Nice to know," Kikyo commented as she pulled away from him. The golden-eyed smiled ever so slightly.
Neither of them knew what they were going to do about Kikyo's mother. They went with telling her at the absolute last minute because after all of their stalling that was the only option; besides, for letting Kaede spill the beans to her mother one day soon, anyway. They invited her to Sesshomaru's house for dinner. She did not know that it was going to be their first meal living under the same roof. She brought Kaede with her, which they did not mind.
Since Kaede was very comfortable around Sesshomaru and used to him by now, she acted like his house was her house. She removed her jacket at the door, not bothering to put it away, and ran off to explore his home while he and Kikyo greeted her mother. Kikyo also picked Kaede's jacket up because the child had just dropped it on the floor; she always guessed that children assumed houses cleaned themselves every couple days instead of believing that some human had to put things in order.
"Good evening, Ms. Kamina. I hope that the trip over wasn't too bad," Sesshomaru said through gritted teeth and forced civility. How could he be polite to her if the blasted woman was already glaring daggers at him as if he had murdered her first born child? He had never even done anything to her; at least other people had good reasons to detest him.
"Two hours on the train with a hyper nine-year-old is never pleasant," she pointed out in a clipped tone. It sounded like she was insulted that he had even asked her such a question. The glare helped drive home the offense.
"Momma, Sessho did offer to come pick you up," Kikyo reminded her as she took her mother's jacket and hung it in the front closest along with her sister's jacket. She did not think that it was fair for her mother to act so hostile toward her beloved when Sesshomaru had made the attempt to be kind and pick their guests up from home. Her mother had just turned him down.
Her mother merely waved the comment off as if she did not care about what the silver-haired male had offered. She looked around the rather elegant and large house. It was sparkling clean; Sesshomaru was not very active around his home and whenever he did move something, it was immediately placed back where it belonged when he was done with it. Kikyo was also a bit neurotic about order, so she often straightened things up when she was at the house, even when things did not need to be straightened. Her mother did not appear impressed.
"Perhaps you'd like to sit in the living room until dinner is ready," Sesshomaru suggested, still trying his best to be polite. He truly wanted to get on her good side, but it seemed like that was not going to be possible.
"Dinner is not ready?" Ms. Kamina asked, speaking mostly to Kikyo. She looked a bit surprised. Usually when Kikyo cooked for her mother, she had everything prepared by the time her mother was home from work, but it was different that night of course.
"I didn't know what you and Kaede might like, so I spent a great deal of time wondering what to make," Kikyo explained, sounding like a cross between her usual self and a child offering up an excuse to avoid getting in trouble. It was not an uncommon tone of hers when her mother was involved.
"You know anything is fine by me and Kaede will eat whatever is presented to her whether she likes it or not," her mother commented.
"I know, but I still didn't want to make just anything," the younger woman stated. There were a few seconds of silence.
"Perhaps you would like a drink," Sesshomaru offered while motioning to his bar and Kikyo winced slightly.
"I don't drink," Ms. Kamina replied plainly; at least he knew where Kikyo go that tone of voice from. Although when Kikyo used it, it did not sound so dreadful toward Sesshomaru. It certainly never left an unsaid, but implied "you heartless, thoughtless bastard" hanging in the air.
"Dammit," Sesshomaru muttered. Three sentences in and he had already managed to ruin things even more so than they already were. He could hardly believe it; he was perfection, after all. He was not supposed to fail when a task was presented to him and he was supposed to convince his beloved's mother to like him … well, tolerate him at the very least.
"Hey, big sister!" Kaede thankfully called before Sesshomaru had a chance to say something else. The child then reported, "Sesshomaru has a lot of the same movies as you. He's even got the Marx brothers collection that you got!"
"I am well aware," Kikyo informed her sister while trying her best to ignore the look that her mother was giving her. She tried to tell herself that it was not possible for her mother to suspect something was up just because she and her boyfriend had the same movies. Sure, the movies that Kaede was looking at were hers, but her mother did not know that.
"He's even got the same Chaplin movies as you do too," the nine-year-old continued quite enthused by her discovery.
Sesshomaru looked away while Kikyo decided to get her sister away from the movies before she noticed some of them bore familiar marks that an overzealous Kaede left on them for some reason or another. Sesshomaru was left alone with a woman that he so desperately wanted to call a harpy to her face because she believed so many rumors about him. Yes, some of those rumors were true, but she did not know that, so he did not think it was right for her to judge him on rumors.
Sesshomaru glanced down at Ms. Kamina and noticed that her attention was directed toward the living room. He tried to think of something to say to her that would not make her look at him as if she was trying to melt his heart with her thoughts. There were not many topics of conversation that came to mind.
"Would you like a tour?" Sesshomaru proposed, trying to sound pleasant, but it was rather difficult to do with a woman that he knew wished that he would die right now in front of her.
"No," she answered evenly.
Sesshomaru did not know what else to say, but Kikyo returned and that saved him from attempting another exchange with Ms. Kamina. She directed her mother to the dining table and struck a small conversation that Sesshomaru purposely excluded himself from; he just could not put up with any more death glares from that woman. She looked so much like his Kikyo that she just made him think of how uncomfortable he would be if Kikyo ever looked at him like she did. He was almost scared of the thought that Kikyo could manage an expression similar to the one that her mother was giving him.
The golden-eyed male did note that Kikyo and her mother got along very well despite the fact that the older woman loathed every fiber of his entire being. He always noticed that whenever Kikyo spoke on the phone with her mother, there was hardly ever any animosity or tension between them, until he came up anyway. He thought it was nice that her mother had not convinced Kikyo to leave him and, even though they disagreed on Sesshomaru, their relationship as mother and daughter did not seem injured in the slightest. Everything ran relatively smoothly until Kaede returned from exploring.
"Kikyo, how come Fluffy's here?" Kaede asked curiously while holding up the aforementioned stuffed animal. "I mean, I've never seen you take Fluffy out of your bedroom, so how come you brought him over here? He could get dirty if you move him around. 'Sides, you won't have him to sleep next to at home if you leave him here and you always sleep next him," the child reasoned.
Kikyo controlled herself from letting her face fall in embarrassment while Sesshomaru pretended that the ceiling was just about the most fascinating thing he had ever seen in all of his days. Kikyo turned her attention to her mother to see that she was being eyed in a way that she was unaccustomed to. Her mother was looking at her so intensely that she felt like a child caught with her hand in the cookie jar. She searched her mind for an explanation as to why something that she slept with was at Sesshomaru's house.
"Momma …" Kikyo started to say, but she trailed off. There had to be a good way to put the news to her mother that would not leave her mother hating Sesshomaru any more than she already did.
"Yes?" Ms. Kamina said calmly, but Kikyo knew that her mother was just waiting for the explanation before the reprimand came.
"I'm moving in with Sesshomaru," Kikyo informed her mother rather bluntly. Apparently, there was no good way to announce such a thing to her mother. The silver-haired male glanced at his beloved because he did not think that she would be so straightforward with her mother, but she found that it was the best way to go about things.
"I figured you would. You know what I think," her mother replied in a rather dismissive tone. It was like she did not understand why her daughter even bothered to tell her.
"I do, but …" Kikyo was not sure what she wanted to say, so she did not say anything further.
"Then there is no need for me to say anything nor is there a need for me to be here. Bring me my jacket," her mother requested.
"Momma, don't leave," Kikyo implored her mother, a pleading expression coating her face. She did not like her mother rejecting something that she honestly wanted and would not give up. She was thankful that she had not experienced her mother's disapproval often in life because it felt terrible, hurting her heart and troubling her breathing.
"I don't want to fool you into believing that I approve of this in any way," her mother replied in steady tone, seemingly unaffected by Kikyo's begging.
"I know, but you're not even trying. I only want you to just try. This isn't even like you think," Kikyo argued, making sure not to raise her voice, not that it ever entered her mind to do so when speaking to her mother.
"Even if it isn't, I still don't approve. It will eventually be like I think with you living here. Not to mention, he will only hurt you in the end, sweetheart. That is the type of man he is," Ms. Kamina informed her daughter as if Sesshomaru was not standing ten feet away from her.
"Momma, that isn't fair to him. You don't even know him," the pale teacher argued. She was used to her mother being stubborn, but it was not typical of her mother to be so judgmental, especially in regards to someone in her life.
"I'm only telling you the truth. Now, bring me my jacket."
"Momma, please," Kikyo begged. Sesshomaru was a bit stunned because he had never seen his beloved beg for anything.
Ms. Kamina sighed and remained seated; apparently, she was going to try to understand the situation. How could she leave after her daughter openly begged her to stay more than once? She still did not approve, though and Kikyo was aware of that.
They had a pleasant, but slightly tense dinner. Ms. Kamina even stopped glaring at Sesshomaru after a while, which he took as a good sign. He remained on his best behavior for the night and he did think that it softened Ms. Kamina toward him, but not much. She did not put up a fuss when he offered to take her and Kaede home. Sesshomaru drove the mother and younger daughter home; Kikyo accompanied him so that he would not be alone on the ride home. They then spent their first night living under the same roof.
"I think I understand my mother's attitude a little better than I did before," Kikyo commented as they entered the bedroom. "Seeing her reaction to you was easier to draw information from her than speaking over the phone."
"All right, beloved, why does your mother hate me so?" Sesshomaru inquired as he changed into his pajamas, which were just white cotton pajama pants. He hardly ever used the shirts to any pajama sets he had. He had to know the reason behind why even though he had been quite the gentleman, her mother still did not warm up to him beyond the fact that she stopped glaring at him.
"Do you want the short answer or the long one?" Kikyo countered as she braided her lengthy raven hair for the night.
"Short for now. I've got to be up early tomorrow," he remarked. He was aware that the dislike her mother of him had to run deep and probably would take a while to explain, so he did not need that answer yet.
"She believes that you corrupted me."
"Corrupted you?" he echoed in a perplexed tone because that could be taken so many different ways.
"She believes that we have slept together," she clarified for him.
Sesshomaru nodded. "Any chance of making that belief reality if only to give her a valid reason to hate me?" he asked with a smirk.
"You may sleep next to me," she answered with a teasing smile.
"You are a grown woman," he pointed out, even though they had been through it all more times than either of them liked.
"Yes, but I have explained this situation to you."
"I know. How very boring, you are saving yourself for marriage. But, that may help explain why I bought this," Sesshomaru commented.
The silver-haired male went into the pocket of his pajama pants and then stepped behind her. He presented her with a little ring box as he pressed himself against her back. She looked down at the box in disbelief.
"Sessho," Kikyo muttered.
"Beloved, I couldn't bear being without you and I know that for a fact. I want to spend the rest of my life with you, even if your mother hates me for that time. I want you to be mines forever and a day. Will you marry me?" he proposed, whispering all the words in her ear as if he was telling her secret.
Kikyo was speechless; the only way for her to answer was to nod. She then turned around and flung herself into his arms. She kissed him deeply, which Sesshomaru took as confirmation to his question. She did verbally affirm when she found her voice minutes later.
-8-8-8-8-
Next time: A bunch of things happen: they get married, Sesshomaru has a lot of work, Kikyo gets a driving lesson, and they have their first anniversary.